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Higuain's Chip 'Among The Best Ones' He's Scored

By: Adam Jardy

The Columbus Dispatch - August 15, 2013 01:35 PM

As a professional soccer player, Federico Higuain has scored his fair share of goals during an 11-year career. But when he looked back at the second goal he scored Saturday against New York, the Crew’s captain put it in rare air.

“It must be among the best ones (I’ve scored),” he said today through an interpreter. “I scored a similar one in the past, but because of our need and the necessity to win and some of the other circumstances like how the game was playing out, it really has to be up there at the top.”

With the Crew ahead 1-0 against the visiting Red Bulls, Higuain took in a pass from rookie midfielder Wil Trapp and sprinted ahead into open space along the right channel at Crew Stadium. With goalkeeper Luis Robles a few yards off the line, Higuain chipped the ball from outside the area and deftly found the back of the net to seal the game. The shot essentially froze Robles and helped the Crew snap a three-game losing streak.

After the game, Crew coach Robert Warzycha waxed poetic about the goal and said goals like that are “why we come to the stadium. That’s why we’re coaching and playing, because you’re looking for goals like that.”

The chip is up for MLS goal of the week voting (click here to vote) and Higuain, whose nickname is “Pipa,” seems likely to be the first Crew player this season to win the honor. It was also featured on MLS’ “Anatomy of a Goal” series on the league’s official website, marking the first time the Crew has been on the scoring side of such a clip. You can view it by clicking here.

“It was a very smart move by Pipa,” teammate Jairo Arrieta said through an interpreter. “He did what a player of his caliber does.”

The goal was Higuain’s second of the night, but his first was no picnic either. After the Crew was awarded a penalty kick in the 62nd minute, Higuain stood at the spot to face a familiar foe.

On May 4 in Crew Stadium, Robles saved Higuain’s penalty kick attempt in the 72nd minute at the south end. The change in momentum helped spur the Red Bulls to a 1-0 win. Twenty-two days later, the two matched up again and Higuain blasted one past Robles in a 2-2 draw in New York.

When it came time to take his third attempt against Robles, Higuain admitted to some trepidation.

“I don’t want to kick more PKs to that goalie because there’s already been three this season,” he said. “It makes you nervous. The third time, it’s a mind game. It’s very stressful going against the same keeper.”

Why take it, then?

“Because it’s my responsibility,” he said. “The coach trusts me and my teammates trust me. It’s an honor to be the one designated to take the PKs this year.”

Higuain and Robles are the sixth pair to face each other for three penalty kicks in a single season in MLS history. The last two were Los Angeles' Landon Donovan and Chicago's Sean Johnson in 2010 and Donovan was successful on two of those attempts.

Of the six pairs, only two field players have buried all three of their chances: Chicago's Ante Razov against Colorado's Scott Garlick (2003) and D.C. United's Jaime Moreno against Chicago's Zach Thornton (2005).

Seven pairs of players have faced each other for four penalty kicks across entire careers. No kicker has taken four attempts against the same goalkeeper within the same season.